He said: "I am very sad to tell you that the very brave Mr Ron Davis has been arrested by the police this morning.

"There will be a time and there will be a place where justice will be done and justice will be seen to be done."

But he asked the crowd of several hundred to cooperate with police "for the moment" in order that the main march to Downing Street could get under way.

March through London

Dubbed D-Day, or Day of the Dad Civil Rights March, the demonstrators will leave Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London and travel via the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand and Trafalgar Square before arriving at No 10.

On arrival at Downing Street, a delegation of six fathers will hand over their Blueprint for Family Law in the 21st Century.

The group insists urgent reform is needed to give fathers more power to fight for access to their children.